Horse
The Horse is the player's constant companion and primary mode of transportation in Jorvik. Horses represent the core mechanic of the game, being used for travel, racing, competitions, and more. The player's first horse, the Jorvik Warmblood, is chosen and customized by the player when first signing up for SSO. When beginning the game, the player is only renting this horse from its previous owners. After finishing a select number of quests, the Jorvik Warmblood can be bought for 300 Jorvik Shillings. Other horses can be purchased from multiple locations and can only be bought with Star Coins. Name Horses names, like the player character's name, cannot be typed out but must instead be chosen from a list of names from two scroll bars. Horse names must be made up of two words chosen from each scroll bar. This is to allow for more customization of the name and to keep players from choosing names which would be considered inappropriate. When buying horses, a player must create a name for their horse before the purchase is completed. Horse names, unlike the player's name, can be changed at select notaries around Jorvik. Horse Character Sheet Horses have a number of variables that affect how they perform in the game . These can all be found on the horse's character sheet, which depicts the horse's level, mood, skills, and gear. The sheet can be opened by pressing C. Level Horse are leveled up through races and certain quests. Currently, Horses are capped at level 15. Mood Sad.png|Sad Grumpy.png|Grumpy Content.png|Content Happy.png|Happy Inspired.png|Inspired Keeping a horse happy will increase it's performance level as it carries an invisible happiness stat. A horse's mood will be depicted by the face icon below its name. These stats are as follows: * Sad: 1 * Grumpy: 2 * Content: 3-4 * Happy: 5-6 * Inspired: 7 The Horse's mood can only be increased and kept up by doing it's daily chores (feeding, watering, grooming, and picking hooves), going to the Vet, or paying for Stable Care Help. Failing to do one of these options will cause the horse's mood to drop. Skills The horses of Jorvik have specific statistics (called skills in-game) that affect how they will perform while ridden: Strength: How high and far your horse can jump Discipline: How quickly your horse changes gaits Swiftness: How fast your horse is Endurance: How much damage the horse can take Agility: How fast and sharp your horse can turn The Horse's skills are split up into four rows, on the horses' character sheet that adds up to create a total score for each stat. Row 1: Depicts a Horse's Breed Bonus, these are initial stats a horse starts out with when purchased and cannot be enhanced. Row 2: Depicts a Horse's Skill Development, these stats increase as the player levels up their horse, at level 15 this stat should reach ten across all skills. Row 3: Depicts a Horse's Level Bonus, these stats increase as the player levels up their horse, at level 15 this stat should reach 7 across all skills. Row 4: Depicts a Horse's Equipment Bonus, these stats are the only stat a player can actively affect. Depending on what gear a player equips their horse with, these stats will increase or decrease. This is also the only stat in which a player can affect a horse's speed skill. Gear The type of gear a player equips to their horse will affect 1-4 of the horse's base stats. Depending on the combination of gear, a player can drastically increase or decrease a horse's performance. So far the only items that can be equipped with horses to affect their stats are: * Saddles * Saddle pads or blankets * Bridles * Horseshoes Special Abilities Some horses have special abilities, that can range from cosmetic, to helpful, or hindering. Cold Resistance: 'A few select breeds are able to withstand the cold temperatures of the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. This means they will be able to run at their normal speeds rather than be slowed down by the cold. These breeds are marked with a special snowflake icon to the left of their breed name. '''Color Changing: 'Jorvik Wild Horses can change colors depending on their location in-game. This does not affect any of their stats, it's purely a cosmetic change. '''Special Moves: '''Some breeds have special animations if pressing the space-bar while a horse is standing still. These are purely cosmetic and don't add anything to gameplay. '''Special Gaits: '''Some horses are released with a special gait in addition to the five regular gaits other horses have. These are different from the special moves as the horse can move continuously rather than for a short time. There have even been some races that rely on the horse being able to use their special gait. Typically to activate these gaits, the horse must be walking. The player then must hold down the Shift key and then simultaneously hit either the up arrow or the 'w' key. Customization The only horse that is fully customizable by the player is the Jorvik Warmblood. But, there are other ways a player can make their horse stand out from the crowd. '''Horse Colour: '''Most horses come in multiple colours meaning not every player has to have the same colored horse. '''Equipment: '''While gear also makes for a better riding performance, choosing specific colors and styles will help horses stand out. '''Horse Stylists: '''There are Horse Stylists in spots all over Jorvik. You can pay them to change your horse's mane and tail styles. '''Accessories: '''Head and Tail ornaments, Leg Wraps, and Saddle bags can be purchased at select vendors in Jorvik to add a little extra to your overall appearance. Owning Multiple Horses When Star Stable Online was first released, it was only possible to own one horse, the Jorvik Warmblood. However, on April 10, 2013, they released more breeds allowing players to purchase more than one horse. This can be done by simply walking up to the horse you wish to purchase and clicking on it which will bring up the purchase menu. Currently, players can purchase as many horses as they want, but not every horse can remain in the player's barn. The number of stalls in a player's barn is 12 but the player can purchase up to 6 more boxes with Star Coins making the max number of stalls 18. If a player has more than 18 horses, the others must be sent off to the player's pasture. Players can get rid of a horse, rather than sending it to their pasture, by selling it. Horses are sold for 2500 Jorvik shillings. Players cannot sell their horses for Star Coins. Once a horse is sold, it is gone from the game for good and players can never get that horse back. Model Generations As Star Stable Online has evolved, so too have the models of the horse breeds implemented in-game. The Model generations are determined by the time and program used to create the model and textures. Some of the horses may have both a previous generation model and a newer generation model in-game, while others may have had their entire model replaced. Gen 1 Generation 1 horses, as their name suggests, were the first horses released after the Jorvik Warmblood (who was also considered generation 1 at this point. They were released during September of 2011 to March of 2017 and were created using a program called Autodesk 3D Studio Max. Many of these models were blocky, cartoonish, stiff, and had no unique animations. The models could perform all rudimentary animations such as five gaits of varying speeds, a hard stop, rear, jump, back up, and one idle animation. '''Note: Due to the age of these models, breeds in Generation 1 cannot make use of certain types of gear that were updated in May of 2019. Gen 1.5 Generation 1.5 horses included all of the breeds that shared their base model with the Jorvik Warmblood. These were the first sets of models to be created using the Autodesk Maya program. These models were implemented in-game during July of 2017 and during this time, all of these breeds (including the JWB) were updated, having their models completely replaced in-game to have a more rounded out model and fluid set of animations. The model was smoothed out to have a more organic look, and in addition to updated rudimentary animations, these horses received more idle animations, making them appear more life-like while still retaining a slightly more cartoonish look compared to the new budding Generation 2 horses being created around this time. Gen 2 Generation 2 horses were the first breeds released to look much closer to their real-life counterparts. They were released during July of 2016 to April of 2019. Many of the horses released during this time, received updated rudimentary animations (unique to each breed), different sets of idle animations, and were the main generation to start the trend of certain breeds having special animations. These horses also moved closer to the current art style rather than the generally messier textures of the models before it. Gen 3 Generation 3 horses are the most current models that lack the least amount of technical restrictions that the other generations do. They began their release in December of 2017 and continue to be released to this day. In addition to all of the perks the Gen 2 horses had, Gen 3 horses are the most realistic, fluidly animated, and most heavily textured of the models. Any new horses added to the game will fall under this category and If a horse breed has not currently been updated to this model's style, they will be in the future. Horse breeds The following breeds make appearances in Star Stable Online: Regular Breeds * Akhal-Teke * American Paint Horse * American Quarter Horse * Andalusian * Appaloosa * Arabian Thoroughbred * Clydesdale * Curly Horse * Danish Warmblood * Dutch Warmblood * English Thoroughbred * Fjord * Friesian Horse * Friesian Sport Horse * Haflinger * Hanoverian * Icelandic Horse * Knabstrupper * Lipizzaner * Lusitano * Morab * Morgan * Mustang * North Swedish Horse * Oldenburg * Pintabian * Selle Francais * Shire * Tinker Horse * Trakehner * Westphalian Ponies * Connemara * Chincoteague Pony * Welsh Pony Fictional Breeds * Brinicle * Fawncy * Jorvik Pony * Jorvik Warmblood * Jorvik Wild Horse * Pepita * SuperShire * Star Horse * Vega * Woodear * Zony Trivia Category:Star Stable Online Category:Game Mechanics